A Deadly Game, A Dangerous Midnight

First quitter

Jared's P.O.V

After a while, we decided that we were risking too much, staying in one place. I stood up, dusted myself and tapped Monique.

"Hey," I whispered, "we should get moving."

"Mon," Alex urged. "Get up."

Monique reluctantly got up. 

"If my candle blows out one more time, I'm so damn quitting!"

I gave her a solemn nod. She stood up with a sigh and walked towards the servant's quarters. It was quite small, four beds on one side and a large wardrobe in the other. In one corner sat a small, squat wooden table supporting an old cable TV, which faced the foot of the beds. Hmm.... nothing here.

"Okay, the guy is not here." I confirmed. "Let's go."

"What?" she screeched. "You're trying to like, find him?"

I pressed my hand to her mouth, alarmed. 

"Shh!" I scolded. "Don't be so loud."

She slapped my hand off of her mouth and shot me a glare, then looked intently at the floor. 

"Sorry," she apologised. 

"It's fine." I shrugged. "Now let's move o-"

I was interrupted by some kind of whispering. Oh! The whispering! Oh. No. Oh. No, no, no. Not again. The blood drained from my face. The room got ice-cold. I shivered and chattered. 

Suddenly, my candle went off. I was sort of expecting it. I snapped into attention, grabbed my lighter, and lit the candle up in no time. When I looked back at Monique, she was standing there without her candle. 

"Monique!" I forgot to keep quiet. "What are you doing? Light the freakin' candle up, NOW!"

"No," she whispered.

"What?"

Ten seconds had gone by, but she was still standing there, unaffected. What?!! 

"Look." she pointed down to her feet. An uneven salt circle surrounded her feet. 

"Oh." I heaved out a sigh of relief. She was alright. 

"I can't go on." she mumbled. "I don't care if I lose the game, at least I'm not going to get attacked at some point." 

"Yeah." I agreed. "Just don't step out of that thing." 

"I won't," she promised as she sat down in the circle, cross-legged.

"You going to be alright, here?" 

"No," she admitted. "I'm gonna be really scared, but you have to move on, you can't stay in one place."

As soon as she said that, I heard the familiar, distinct whispering. 

My eyes widened, and I froze, again.

"Go!" Monique shrieked, snapping me into reality. "Run, now!"

I didn't need telling twice. Without looking back, I took off, running like a madman. i didn't stop until I reached Alex.

"Omg, what happened?" she asked. "Did you guys run into him again?"

Then, she really looked at me. I could see her eyes flashing back and forth. She looked at me, then at the seemingly empty darkness, then back at me. 

"Where's Monique?" she choked.

Paisley clasped a hand to her mouth. It seemed as if she was trying hard not to burst out crying or screaming. 

"Hey," I nudged Paisley, then looked up at Alex. "She's fine, she quit."

"Oh," Alex relaxed. "Wait, she quit?"

"Yeah," 

"How so?"

"Once our candles blew off, she surrounded herself with salt."

"But she's safe?"

"I guess."

"Thanks." 

I looked up, surprised. "Umm, you're welcome."

Monique was officially the first one to quit, but at least she was safe, or at least as safe as I think she was. I wasn't so sure about the rest of us.